Teaser – April ’79 – Military Modeling

328 MILITARY MODELLING

Teaser – April ’79 – Military Modeling
 C. S. Grant
sets another wargame
scenario.
W ay back in my introduction to "Teaser One"
I gave a list of various types of wargame.
At the risk of repetition, I think that sufficient
time has passed to make a short recap beneficial.
There was, firstly, the simple encounter battle
with its variations, then, secondly, the re-fight
of famous battles and engagements from
history. I spoke also of the variety of actions both
large and small that can arise from running a
campaign, and then finally I covered the
"situation" battle which is what these Teasers
have attempted to provide. The aim of the latter
is, of course, to provide a more realistic alterna-
tive to the enjoyable but limited "fight to the
death" confrontation battle, and to give tactical
objectives other than the destruction of the

The map shows the area of the battle, the

dispositions of the garrison force Blue and the
three Red forces behind their movement line X-Y.
The detached company from force number 2
can be seen in the small village forward of its
guns. The arrow in the top right corner shows
the direction of Blue's re-enforcements while
the windmill where Red's commanders meet is
in the bottom left
enemy that may be achieved even with largely
differing forces. Of course, such situations have
some basis in history which provides inspiration
and realism. Why then, you may ask, do we not
just research and re-fight the particular action
as it occurred? For example, instead of creating
a problem concerning a rear guard action and
bridge demolition such as in "Teaser One", why
not re-fight a factual action? There are, of course,
numerous examples of such situations. One can
think of the Napoleonic Wars and the 1814
campaign where bridges were destroyed too
soon or not at all; specifically of the bridge at
Ebelsberg in 1809 or even Leipzig. What, too, of
the infamous Remagen Bridge in 1945? Surely,
you may argue, with so many examples in
history, why is it necessary to create fictional
situations in Teasers?
There are, I believe, a number of advantages
in the "situation" or Teaser battle compared with
re-fighting known battles. The first advantage is
that in a Teaser (while the period may often be
implied), the scope is sufficiently flexible to allow
adaptation of the situation to almost any period,
given the technological constraints. Thus, with
little effort, the "beach landing" in "Teaser Six"
can quickly become a Roman raid on Britain
without feeling the implied restrictions of actually
fighting D-Day 2,000 years early. Similarly, with
"Teaser Five" and the dawn attack, it does not
seem preposterous to put Romans in the camp
and attack it with Carthaginians because one is
not tied to an actual historical incident. The
teaser, therefore, gives us a greater freedom of
action and of period.
My second point in favour of the Teaser is that
the sheer size of a re-fought battle is often
restrictive. Take, for example, the number of
figures or, conversely, the extreme compression
of scale required to fight Arnhem, Waterloo or
Ramillies (not to mention Leipzig) on the table
Teaser Eight
top. Now do not get me wrong, some of my
most enjoyable games have been such re-fights,
in particular I fondly recall Fontenoy and
Lobositz. However, they are elaborate affairs
involving many troops, much organisation and,
not least, a great deal of time. Furthermore,
unless special factors are reproduced (as we do
with the teasers), the all-seeing General has the
advantages of hindsight and omnipresence. I
therefore believe the second advantage of the
Teasers is the ability not only to provide problems
covering broad historical periods but to be able
to scale down problems to a more manageable
size for our tables. Problems which confront
commanders of vast armies or even corps are
little different in many ways from similar problems
at lower levels of command.
I said earlier that Teasers have some factual
basis to present realistic problems. In fact,
previous Teasers have been a combination of
fact and fancy which I hope have produced
probable and interesting scenarios which present
both forces, often quite unbalanced, with goals
which can be achieved. The result depends on
the balance of skill, hard work and luck. So far, I
have not drawn on particular actions as the
source for a Teaser. This month is the exception.
Apart from producing an enjoyable game, I *
hope to show how a major European battle can
be uprooted from its period, reduced to little
more than a divisional action, compressed in
time and still retain all the elements of excitement,
hard fighting and suspense.
The action which will form the basis of this
Teaser is the Battle of Dresden in 1813. A period
of convalescence enforced upon me recently by
a battle (on the rugby rather than the wargame
field) allowed me to spend a considerable time
catching up on my reading. Among these books
was F. Lorrain Petre's Napoleon's Last Campaign
in Germany. It had been some years since I had
read of this campaign and, my interest afire, I
pursued the subject into David Chandler’s The
Campaigns of Napoleon and Lt. Col. Lawford's
recent The Last Campaigns. Reading and re-
reading the accounts of Dresden, I became
more and more interested. Rather than drop this
article and rush to your local library for these and
other references, perhaps I might be permitted to
encapsulate the basic elements of the Battle of
Dresden in a few short words.
The Battle of Dresden was fought over two
days, that is the 26th/27th August, 1813.
Situated on both sides of the River Elbe, the old
fortifications of the town had fallen into some
disrepair and the suburbs had expanded. Napo-
leon had improved the defences earlier but with
more thought to the right bank than the left.
Gouvion-St. Cyr's garrison of about 20,000 men
was attacked from the south on the left bank by
329
an allied force of over 100,000 men which
were reinforced during the day to over
150,000. Failing to press home their attack
on the 26th until too late, the allies did not
destroy St. Cyr or take Dresden. Napoleon,
who had had schemes designed for
elsewhere, at last realised this peril and
arrived late in the morning of the 26th at
Dresden. The rest of his forces hurried up
the road from the east to arrive in Dresden
on the right bank to reinforce St. Cyr. By the
end of the day, the French forces had risen
to 70,000. Although some had arrived too
late to influence the day's action, the allies
had been held. The allies remained
overnight, intent on continuing the battle on
the next day. In the early hours of the
morning of the 27th, French forces continued
to arrive, raising the total for the second
day's battle to about 120,000, while the
allies' forces rose but only to about 170,000
men. The events of the 27th are well covered
in the aforementioned sources. It is recorded
how in the course of the day "an army of
120,000 men in the presence of 180,000
enemies deploys from the bridge-head, then
surrounds the enemy on both wings and
seriously damages both. When it compels a
whole division to lay down its arms in the
open field; when it brings in directly from
the battle field 13,000 prisoners, 15 standards
and 26 guns, that is quite undeniably a
victory" (Die Befreningskreig, 1813-1815 by
Von Caemmerer).
What a glorious action and, indeed, a
great subject for a wargame. The dithering
of the allies, the staunch defence by St.
Cyr's forces and, not least, the tremendous
marching ability of the French soldier, the
gradual swing of the balance from the allies
to the French over the two days, produces a
most intriguing situation. No doubt one day I
will get round to fighting the Battle of
Dresden on the wargame table. However,
the size of the action, the number of troops
involved, the restrictions required to
simulate the allies' lack of urgency and
decision, the time framework over the two-
day period and other factors, lead me to
look for a similar situation with all the
characteristics and excitement but in a more
manageable form and even, perhaps,
another period.
The result is a one-day action with a
holding force in a poorly defended built-up
area, holding out (we hope) until sufficient
reinforcements can arrive to turn the tide.
On the other hand, we have a somewhat
unco-ordinated but numerically considerably
superior force aimed at taking the town and
destroying the garrison.
Period
The inspiration for this Teaser is, of
course, Napoleonic but, as I have
emphasised, the advantage of the Teaser is
that it can fit almost any period. I feel that
the redoubts and close fighting that may
arise give a distinct "horse and musket" feel
to the problem. An ancient or modern
setting is, however, by no means impossible.
The Teaser was fought at Dover in the
setting of the Seven Year's War but one can
speculate for a moment on an ancient
setting. The town could, perhaps, be in
Roman Britain with outposts manned by
ballista, the local homes spread about
outside the edge of the inner fort, protected
by a catapult or two inside. The garrison is
little more than a few native cohorts. The
enemy having gathered to the south now
appear in vast warbands skirmishing through
the wooded periphery and begin to assault
the fort, hampered by lack of co-operation
and bursts of uncontrolled enthusiasm.
Unknown to the savage barbarians, time is
short — for the clouds to the north-east
herald the march of relieving Roman forces.
Tremendous scope for a game!!
Terrain
The Terrain shown in the diagram gives the
town around which the battle is based. It is
designed for a nine foot by seven foot table.
The town, once well fortified, has an old wall
around its original area. This wall is much
eroded by time and is nowhere more than
about six feet high. It forms an obstacle to
troops and provides good hard cover. The
main road south-west goes through the only
break in the wall which is ungated and about
30 feet wide. The houses inside are stout
stone constructions with slate roofs. The
central bridge is of stone and will take wagons,
artillery, etc. Outside the old town, suburbs
have built up. These are poorly built, straw-
roofed buildings which spread for some
distance. In this area are two wooden bridges,
one north and the other south of the town.
These are light constructions capable of
taking only a couple of men abreast or horses
in single file.
To the south and south-west of the
suburbs are two redoubts. These are newly
constructed and are solid, revetted earth
works, each capable of holding one field piece
and a company of infantry.
The river is impassable except by the
bridges. Other features include a small farm
with two buildings, a low stone wall and
orchard to the south of the town. A small
village is to the south-west beyond which is a
knoll surmounted by a windmill. Finally, to the
north, on the south side of the river, is another
village.
Forces
(Note. The use of the term "company" is a
loose one and will depend on the rules used.
In this case it is taken to be quarter of a
battalion.) Blue force — garrison
Blue's garrison force is shown to the south
of the river with its dispositions (diagram).
1st regiment/battalion:
— 1 company — A. (in the houses).
— 2 companies — B. (in suburbs).
— 1 company — C. (in redoubt).
Artillery:
— 1 gun — C. (in redoubt).
2nd regiment/battalion:
— 1 company — D. (in the suburbs).
— 2 companies — E. (in farm complex).
— 1 company — F. (in redoubt).
Artillery:
— 1 gun — F. (in redoubt).
1 militia unit (2 companies only):
— G. (confined to inner town).
Blue force — reinforcements
Blue force has the following reinforcements
approaching from the north-east.
Infantry: — 3 battalions/regiments.
Cavalry: — 2 regiments.
Artillery: — 2 batteries (4 guns).
The order of arrival and deployment will
be covered later.
Red force
Red force has a large deployed force under
three commanders (forces shown under com-
manders 1, 2 and 3 in the diagram). Each
commander has: —
Infantry — 2 battalions/regiments.
(The central commander has 1 company of
his
right hand battalion forward in the village.)
Cavalry — 1 regiment.
(The central force is light cavalry, the other
two
are heavy.)
Artillery — 1 battery (2 guns).
The Scenario and Opening Actions
The game commences at last light when
Red's commanders find that, after some late
and rather ineffectual action in the late
afternoon, the armies are positioned as
shown. Blue has stood the uncoordinated
assault well and knows that reinforcements
are on the way.
At the end of the day, the three Red com-
manders gather at the windmill and discuss
the plan for the next day. They are not aware
that reinforcements are moving to aid Blue.
The umpire briefs the Red commanders thus
far as to what has transpired and allows them
10 minutes to talk together to plan the next
day's attack. They then leave the windmill for
their commands and do not meet again. In
effect, under umpire supervision, they retire
to different corners of the room and write
orders for any night activity and for the next
day. They may adjust their forces in any
manner they wish during the night behind
their forward line shown on X-Y on the
diagram. This is done by marking on a map
provided to each commander the exact
route, starting time of move and by writing
orders for the unit commander. The maps
and instructions are given to the umpire.
Night, let us say, is adjusted to be 24
periods and movement is at half normal
distance. The maps are now transposed
onto one map by the umpire who calculates
all plots. The resulting lines may produce
collisions, confusion and even fighting
against own forces in the night. The umpire
can have a little fun here while judging the
result, casualties, deviations from intended
direction and the final positions at dawn.
Perhaps this is a rather brief explanation of
what is to be done but I am sure that umpires,
in particular ones who have dealt with
previous Teasers, can see the possibilities
and gauge the actions accordingly. Of
course, the more work and co-operation the
three commanders achieve during their 10
minutes together, the more organised the
night activity will be. No supreme commander
should be appointed by the umpire although
the commanders may elect one themselves if
they think about it.
Dawn
First light will reveal Blue as before,
Red's forces in suitable locations dependent
on the night's activity, and the attack ready
to commence. At the windmill conference, it
is hoped that -a plan will have emerged and
that, once separated, the commanders
writing their orders will cover not only the
night activity but also the orders for the day.
These will include detailed unit orders, time
to commence action, etc. No orders will
mean no activity until further orders can be
carried to that unit. The umpire must be
strict on this point. The three commanders
may dispose themselves as they see fit.
While Red commanders are adjusting
the dawn dispositions, Blue disappears with
the umpire and the arrival of the
reinforcements is calculated. (Keep an eye
on these Red fellows, we don't want them
talking to each other. How about an
assistant umpire?) Blue is told that help is on
the way and that cavalry are likely to arrive
first, perhaps some artillery, then infantry
and more artillery. However, the forces are
coming on different routes and calculation
of time of arrival is difficult. The arrival time
of the forces is diced for. Incidentally, I have
taken a day arbitrarily as 30 move periods.
Each item is thrown for with the number of
dice shown, the resulting addition giving
the move period of troop arrival on the table
in the north-east.
a. 1 light cavalry regiment — 1 die
b. 1 heavy cavalry regiment —2 considerable stockpiles there. raised by my wife (whose transcription of my
dice Blue force's aim scrawl and subsequent typing deserves mention)
c. 1 infantry battalion —2 Blue force's aim must be to hold the south side is that the effect of a Teaser such as this one
dice of the town, giving as little ground as possible will be largely lost if, the week before it is fought,
d. 1 battery of guns (2) —2 until reinforcements have arrived and then to "mine host" proclaims "next week we will fight
dice expel and destroy Red. Teaser 8, chaps!". The adversaries then go
e. 1 infantry battalion —3 Umpire's action home, read it up (I hope), and then much of the
dice surprise is lost. The nature of the battle should
Once again, our umpire is a busy man but,
f. 1 battery of guns (2) —3 be a complete surprise and need not necessarily
once all the preparations are complete, the action
dice "follow hot on the heels of the publication of the
itself should be quite straightforward. A quick
g. 1 infantry battalion —4 Teaser itself. In this respect the umpire and
check through the rules about fighting hand to
dice organiser must take upon themselves a veil of
hand, in built-up areas, firing from cover,
It can be seen, while the odds favour the secrecy.
redoubts, crossing obstacles and the morale of
predicted order of arrival of the various units, a Deciding on the winner
independent sub-units will be helpful. Perhaps
lucky throw could well change things. In fact, As always, last, but not least, we must decide
also consideration of setting fire to houses (two
serial g. could arrive anytime between period 4 who wins. Blue will win if he prevents Red
kinds in this town), the effect of smoke on
and 24. All this is, of course, quite unknown to gaining access to the town on the south bank or
visibility, cannon fire on bridges, and other
the Red commanders. has driven him out by last light. The game is
options, will bear looking at.
Red force's aim It will be important that orders are well written drawn if Red is in the town but does not hold the
Red force's aim is to capture the town and the and properly adhered to, particularly in the case south half of the inner fort at last light. If Red is
bridge, thus cutting off Blue's main force from of the three Red commanders. One other point in the south half of the inner fort, Blue has lost
retreating south-west and also to capture the control of the bridge and is the loser.